New Solar Capacity Dries Up

Subsidies to new installations of solar power via the Renewable Obligation scheme were withdrawn with effect from April 2016, although schemes already in progress were given leeway.

The latest BEIS figures for new capacity additions show just how drastic the fall in new installations has been since. In the last 12 months, only 647MW of capacity has been added, giving a total installed capacity at March 2018 of 12.9GW.

Much of the capacity added in the last year is for projects in the pipeline before 2016, and therefore still eligible for subsidy.

The current situation seems even more dire. Provisional BEIS data says that only 21MW was added in April and May.

The National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios project that we need up to 33GW of solar power by 2030 to keep on track for decarbonisation targets, but there seems little prospect of this if subsidies continue to be unavailable.